A new PYMNTS tracker reveals that credit unions, despite earning exceptional member trust and satisfaction ratings, consistently lose the top-of-wallet battle to national banks when it comes to actual card usage. The trust advantage alone isn't translating into transaction volume.
For card-not-present merchants and direct-acquiring PSPs, this gap underscores a critical truth: issuer brand loyalty matters far less than friction, rewards, and checkout experience. High-risk and high-velocity verticals—iGaming, forex, crypto on-ramps—can't afford to assume cardholder preference. Instead, success depends on acceptance breadth, smart routing, and fallback options when primary cards decline. That's why modern payment stacks pair card acquiring with 40+ alternative methods, stablecoin settlement, and AI-driven orchestration that adapts to real-time performance, not legacy relationships.
Trust may open the door, but conversion lives at the gateway. Merchants who optimize authorization rates, reduce false declines, and offer the payment method customers actually reach for will capture more volume than those banking on brand affinity alone.
Read the full report at PYMNTS.